Samsung Galaxy Note 10: if you want the launch to be a surprise, avoid this leak

The design of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 has leaked online and revealed some interesting new tidbits about the forthcoming flagship phone. The high-resolution image, which shows the front and rear of the handset, was created by designer Ben Geskin and verified by serial Samsung leakster Ice Universe on Twitter.

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Provided the information is accurate – and given the track record of the two tipsters associated with this one, we're fairly confident that it is – there will be a number of differences between the final design of the handset and the rumours that've been circulating online ahead of the launch date.

First up, it seems Samsung has given up on its idea of ditching all physical buttons from its smartphone in favour of capacitive touch areas on the chassis to control volume and power. According to Ice Universe, the button-less design did exist inside the Samsung R&D laboratory, but was dropped because it "did not pass Samsung's rigorous testing, so the final version of Note10 still retains physical buttons".

Unfortunately, rumours of the demise of the 3.5mm headphone port were seemingly entirely accurate, according to the tipster. Based on the render of the as-yet unannounced handset, the Note 10 will not have two front-facing cameras.

That's a surprise. Although the Galaxy S10 boasts a single selfie camera, both the Galaxy S10 Plus and the Galaxy S10 5G have a dual front-facing camera set-up. These enable Live Photo images with bokeh-style blur behind the subject. The Galaxy Note, which typically launches in late August, usually builds on the features and designs introduced with the latest entry into the Galaxy S range earlier in the year.

Since the Galaxy Note is typically more expensive – due to its larger OLED display, and productivity-focused features – we had expected the Note 10 to sport the same dual front-facing camera set-up as the pricier Galaxy S10 models.

Instead, the Galaxy Note 10 will have a single camera embedded in the dual-curved Infinity-O display (so called because the cut-out is "O" shaped) and positioned in the middle of the screen, unlike the right-aligned cameras seen on the Galaxy S10e, Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10 Plus.

That's something that was also heavily rumoured. Unfortunately, it means Samsung won't be bringing the twisting camera design seen on the Galaxy A80 back in April.

Elsewhere, the Galaxy Note 10 looks set to include a vertically-aligned camera module in the top left-hand corner of the back plate. This is similar to the iPhone XS Max, and completely different from the horizontal set-up seen on the Note 9. The Galaxy Note 10 will have a quadruple camera, like the S10 5G with a ToF sensor.

It's unclear whether rumours of two separate versions of the Galaxy Note 10 – a Galaxy Note 10e and Note 10 Pro – are true. And if so, which model appears in the render shared by designer Ben Geskin. The so-called Note 10e is rumoured to have a 6.28-inch display with 1440×3040 pixels, which works out at 536 pixels-per-inch, while the pricier Galaxy Note 10 Pro is expected to feature a 6.75-inch screen with a 1440×3040 pixel resolution and 498 pixels-per-inch. Both the Note 10e and Pro model will have 4G and 5G versions variants and will be powered by the Exynos 9820.

Despite the track record of those who have supplied this leak, it's important to take all of this with a pinch of salt. Nothing is set in stone until Samsung mobile chief DJ Koh announces it on-stage at the next Galaxy Unpacked event.

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